Taking Out The Trash

Blacklisting hotline starts

Rob Evans and I filed a piece for yesterday's Guardian's online edition as the ICO's hotline for workers who fear they have been blacklisted went live. (Ring 08456 306060 by the way and have your NI number handy).

Alex Ralph blogs on the issue and ties it in quite nicely with the miners strike anniversary and the Shrewsbury pickets campaign.

I'm indebted, as ever, to the TUC's excellent Risks magazine which rounds up some of the union responses to the story.

Bob Crow from the RMT talks about anecdotal evidence of his members having been blacklisted because of their union activities. Scottish TUC issued a statement. Unite talk about possible claims arising from this although other unions are a bit more coy because it's going to be difficult to prove. Unite have also mounted an internal investigation because of the suggestion that some of their reps may have colluded in the blacklisting. It may well be that this story, far from being a boost for unions, could well shine some light on activities which might make them some feel a little uncomfortable.

Blacklist EDM and warm words

Er, just as it says in the title. 70 MPs (update 19.37 13/3: 76 now) have now signed Michael Clapham's Early Day Motion on blacklisting.

Ucatt has been looking using other mechanisms to raise the issue in parliament and one was questions to the leader of the House. Harriet Harman duely pledged to end the practice, reports Building magazine.

Update 13.3: in the House yesterday Harman responds to question from Michael Clapham with some warm words: "important issue", "totally opposed", "scurrilous activity". Anybody spot a pledge to actually do as the unions are asking and bring in the regulations required to make blacklisting illegal in her answer? It's not actualy Harman's call anyway but BERR minister Peter Mandelson - and more specifically Pat McFadden.

In an earlier article Building magazine also quoted a lawyer on the potential exposure of companies involved in the scandal.

John Armstrong, partner at law firm CMS Cameron McKenna said the firms could face potentially unlimited claims if they were proved to have behaved in a discriminatory manner against workers on the list. He said: “If someone believes they’ve been unfairly dismissed or overlooked for work then they can bring an action, certainly. It becomes a discriminatory matter.”

I've piece on the issue in tomorrow's Tribune.

In other news: My colleague Rich Cookson has spent the last few months working on a programme for C4's Unreported World about the Congo.

In the jungles of North East Congo, the Unreported World team uncovers evidence that the Lord's Resistance Army - one of the world's most brutal rebel groups - has begun a new campaign of terror, and talks to survivors with stories of unimaginable horror.

Worth tuning in for.

Blacklisting edm

Thirty one MPs have signed Early Day Motion number 1020 which calls on the government to take action on blacklisting.

The text of the EDM is:

That this House is alarmed and concerned to learn from the Information Commissioner's report that the blacklisting of trade union members is widespread in the construction industry; condemns the major construction contractors who subscribed to the Consulting Association and also provided it with information about workers and employees; notes that many of the companies who donated to the Consulting Association are currently engaged on publicly-procured work projects worth billions of pounds; considers that there may be legal implications where for example an employee or worker believes they were dismissed because they were on the list and requests that the Information Commissioner gives a reasonable time for people to make the appropriate checks; and calls on the Government to enact immediately legislation to prohibit the compilation of a blacklist containing the details of workers and employees with a view to them being used by employers or employment agencies to discriminate in relation to employment and to make it a criminal offence for an employer to commission such information.

Blacklist update part 5

At some point I'm going to collate the various follow-ups and updates on the blacklisting story into one post but in the meantime....

(New readers start here: Last year I wrote a story for The Guardian on blacklisting. Following this the Information Commissioner launched an investigation. This week that resulted in a vetting agency being shut down and dozens of construction companies named as clients. And Rob Evans and I at The Guardian got the scoop which was widely picked up. This is a collection of links to those follow ups. See here, here and here for my two other updates.)

I mentioned on the last post that the role of the HR sector in all this would be worth investigating. The initial indications are they don't really see it as a problem; it must all be someone else's fault. A bit more of an honest comment here.

Legal firms have been quick off the mark offering advice to companies so they don't come a cropper as The Consulting Association and its client did. I even got some spam at the weekend offering the services of a particular solictor if I needed any legal comment for an article I might be writing.

The FT reports the story here and says at the end that it ws unable to contact the Consulting Association. Funny that, it having gone out of business and all.

The Times took the story on somewhat on Saturday having got hold of more detail on the payments firms made to The Consulting Association.

And in the blogosphere Malcolm Redfellow is just not that surprised by it all

At yesterday's Scottish Labour Conference procedural difficulties meant it wasn't possible to put a motion forward on blacklisting but Ucatt general secretary Alan Ritchie did address delegates.

Tonight MP Michael Clapham is preparing an Early Day Motion on the issue which should be put down tomorrow.

I'm off to write a 500-word piece for Tribune now.

The last round-up on blacklisting (for now)

(New readers start here: Last year I wrote a story for The Guardian on blacklisting. Following this the Information Commissioner launched an investigation. This week that resulted in a vetting agency being shut down and dozens of construction companies named as clients. And Rob Evans and I at The Guardian got the scoop which was widely picked up. This is a collection of links to those follow ups. See here and here for my two other updates.)

Update 14.33pm: The Daily Kos has a very thoughtful piece.

Update 13.06pm: Apparently a motion is going before the Scottish Labour Conference asking the government to make blacklisting illegal.

*******

What's been missing from the news reports so far have been responses from the industry and the Conservative Pary.

So thank you the Daily Mail whose report (almost) managed both. Tory MP David Davis, who resigned over civil liberty issues etc etc, gave a very interesting quote.

"My own grandfather was blacklisted for his political and trade union activities, and could not work as a result. This can have a devastating effect, punishing whole families for people exercising their democratic rights."

Davis, who grew up on a council estate while his colleagues on the front bench owned estates, can empathise but that that seems a step too far for his party which has maintained its silence.
Does that have anything to do with fact that construction companies have traditionally been key funders?.

Or perhaps because they agree with economist Ruth Lea also quoted by the Mail (I'm glad someone's going to these people to see what they think) but know its repugnant to a large section of the electorate.

Lea, who was always on TV representing the Institute of Directors, is now always on TV representing the Arbuthnot Banking Group. So much on TV that if I was her manager I'd give her some proper work to do.

Lea said: "Checking employment records is exactly what companies should be doing. The idea that they should not be able to find out about prospective employees strikes me as bizarre."

And the Confederation of British Industry (again courtesy of the Daily Mail) declined to condemn the company, and other commentators said it was legitimate for employers to want to check out people they were hiring.

Declined to condemn a company which broke the law. Is it even beyond them to even ask companies to follow the law?

Construction News has a round-up of how the companies named by the Commissioner have responded. I could have saved them time by sending them the results of two days of doing just that for the Guardian since they've not decided to say anything new. I thought N G Bailey gave a hostage to fortune by announcing an investigation when most others just tried to shut the conversation down (as I would have). Look forward to finding out what Bailey's investigation reveals.

And more on the views from the other side, Man Of The Woods blog says the case is clearly evidence of...left wing hypocrisy. I was about to explain why but it's so silly just go and read it yourself. Dave Osler goes at the issue from a similar angle but gets his points across rather better, I feel.

Credit to MOTW though for at least considering the topic. Iain Dale and fellow Tory bloggers, so keen usually to stand up for freedom and who profess to bow to no-one, remain silent on the issue. Still, Paul Staines has got some more jokes about Gordon Brown having one eye so that's all right then.

Newsnight's report last night mentioned the Economic League, former emloyers of Ian Kerr, an angle barely covered elsewhere. It had some great archive footage of the Friedman's stormtroopers giving evidence to a parliamentary select committee. Waiting for the footage to go up on the site. I wonder where Kerr's colleagues in the league ended up? Did others, like him, continue the great fight?
 
Missed this in my previous round-ups from Guardian's Comment Is Free where they nominated Kerr as civil liberties villain of the week.

Wikipedia entry on The Consulting Association.

Here are letters to the Guardian on the story. Jon Rogers from Unison writes:

Presumably the construction companies who deny any wrongdoing in your report of the illegal activities of a former employee of the discredited Economic League will be investigating collusion in illegal activities by the managers and human resources officers.

And I think this angle on where were the HR managers is interesting since they must have known. I wonder what their professional associations and trade press think about the issue? It suggests a failure of professionalism in that sector, I would suggest.

The Information Commissioner will be launching a hotline for people to ring in and check if they were on the blacklist, reports Ucatt. The ICO has details on the helpline here.

The TUC issued a statement saying blacklisting is 'deplorable'. General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

“The Government must act now and bring in the 1999 blacklisting regulations, to give workers proper protection and access to redress.”

The Experiment blog covers the story.

And so does Organized Rage.

Here is a comment from Cheryl's Mewsings over in the US. Also in America, the University of Washington's Computer Security Research and Course blog picks up on the story.

Alan Ritchie, general secretary at Ucatt has been a fixture in the television and radio studios commentating on the story, which has been very helpful in his forthcoming election.

Unite has issued a statement.

I've got some more material from The Consulting Association such as blacklisted Steve Acheson's file and am working out how to best this (large pdf) file up.

And the blacklisting story goes on

Waiting for Newsnight having spoken to some of their reporters today but in the meantime...

update 3:

Henry Porter weighs in. Not my favourite writer but in his piece he does remember, which many general news stories overlook, that this is ultimately a human story about people unable to earn a living. I am sure Michael White's comment had Henry frothing at the mouth.

In this piece from the BBC the Lib Dems are quoted:

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: "Leading companies have to realise that information is power, and wrong information is the abuse of power.

"The Information Commissioner is absolutely right to throw the book at the miscreants in this case."

I've yet to see any statement from the Conservatives on the issue du jour nor any of their bloggers taking it on. Perhaps they should take a look at Lenin's Tomb which adopts a very pragmatic and market-centric approach to the issue?

update 2:

Very good comment piece from industrial relations academic Gregor Gall about the victimisation of union activists.

Alex Hilton on Labourhome thinks companies linked with blacklisting should be barred from public sector contracts.

I understand the Information Commissioner is going to set up a freephone number from March 16 so that people who believe they were on the list can ring in with their name and NI number and find out. I imagine construction companies are already getting their legal teams to work our their defence from the inevitable compensation claims.

Blacklisting story goes everywhere

So woke up this morning to hear the blacklisting story which leads today's Guardian dominating the news agenda.
Here and here and here and here
The Information Commissioner has spent some six months investigating blacklisting in the construction industry following an article I wrote for the Guardian last year.
The result is detailed in the IC's press release issued today and in the story Rob Evans and myself wrote.
Just starting to listen to the Radio5Live phone in on 'what should your boss know about out' and about two minutes in already depressed by some people's attitudes.
Still, it's all part of working on follow-ups.
One of which is why the government decided not to make blacklisting illegal in the first place - and if they will now.

updates 1:

Bob Piper comments here and alerts me to the link on the Today programme. I've spoken to Steve Acheson, the blacklisted electrician interviewed here, several times for the articles. He won an employment tribunal a couple of years back which found that he had been blacklisted and trade journals and some left wing online forums  and magazines covered this. As with most stories; it's just sitting there waiting for people to take an interest. The Guardian and the Information Commissioner did. Meanwhile Steve's barely worked in the last nine years.

The Independent carries reaction from John McDonnell MP and Lord Mandelson (before he was pied). McDonnell says: "It is widely suspected that the Government caved in under pressure from employers' organisations when I raised this issue last time in Parliament [to outlaw blacklisting]."

Following a freedom of information request I was given documents on why the government's u-turn took place and they don't show any pressure beyond standard responses to a consultation. But perhaps more digging can be done on what led to this decision.

A Very Public Sociologist reports here.

Stronger Unions takes up my point on legislation

Exposing the blacklist

Just saw on Sky News the front pages from tomorrow's papers and there was the story I worked on with Rob Evans on the front of The Guardian. It's a follow up from this piece.
Well excited.

update 23.44: Just watched the newspaper review on Sky News and they discussed the story at length. Ahead, even, of Michael Jackson.